Rookie QBs Ryan Tannehill, Andrew Luck take center stage Sunday

Young guns will be focal point of matchup between pair of 4-3 teams

When the Miami Dolphins and Indianapolis Colts meet at 1 p.m. Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium, all eyes will be on the rookie quarterbacks, Miami's Ryan Tannehill and Indianapolis' Andrew Luck.

They'll be shouldering big expectations for themselves and their teams. Both are 4-3 and, perhaps a bit surprisingly, they're both in the AFC playoff picture nearing the midway point of the season.

"It's definitely the biggest game for us to date," Luck said. "It's huge."

Tannehill hopes he's able to show off his skills. He walks with a bit of a limp nowadays, courtesy of a sack last week by the New York Jets. It's about the only way anyone has managed to successfully slow him down since he got on a roll in Week 2 against Oakland.

Tannehill's 431 yards passing against Arizona was one yard short of the NFL's all-time rookie record, and his 1,269 yards passing through Miami's first five games were the second-most by a rookie in NFL history. His huddle demeanor and his knack for making reads at the line of scrimmage show wisdom beyond his six-plus games of NFL experience.

Luck has been even more impressive because of his downfield throwing skills. Luck's 1,971 yards passing are the second-most in NFL history by a rookie through six games. And now he's developing a knack for comeback victories. In last week's 19-13 overtime victory at Tennessee, Luck became the third rookie quarterback to pass for a game-winning touchdown in overtime. Green Bay, Minnesota and Tennessee have all felt the pain of Luck's come-from-behind victories.

As you can tell, these kids are good. Sunday should be an exciting matchup of high-performing guys from one of the most impressive rookie quarterback classes in years. But don't try telling that to Dolphins coach Joe Philbin. He's in no mood to feed into the hype.

"Andrew Luck is their quarterback and Ryan Tannehill is our quarterback," he said. "I don't really think it is a big deal."

He's wrong. It's a huge deal. Luck, the No. 1 pick in the draft, and Tannehill, the No. 8 pick, are tethered by that ugly "Suck for Luck" campaign that some Dolphins fans waged last year when Miami was 0-7. They wanted Miami to lose as many games as possible to get the No. 1 pick and select Luck.

As it turned out, Tannehill was a nice consolation prize.

"You're always going to have people that are rooting for you [and] people that doubt you," Tannehill said. "That's just the nature of the game, that's the nature of the business we're in. Hopefully, I surprised some people."

The irritating thing for the Dolphins, and perhaps Philbin, is Tannehill's status. It's uncertain, at best. Tannehill sustained a bruised left knee and bruised left thigh in last week's 30-9 victory at the New York Jets when he was sacked by linebacker Calvin Pace in the first quarter. Tannehill didn't return to the game and was limited in Wednesday's practice. He wears a protective sleeve on his left leg and a knee brace beneath the sleeve.

Tannehill admits he's "obviously not 100 percent" healthy, but he said it was good to get on the field and move around.

"You just want to see where you're at," he said.

Although Washington rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III is regarded as the shining star of the class right now, Luck and Tannehill are right behind him. People want to see the matchup.

"I'm sure it will be really fun for the fans, seeing two rookie quarterbacks going head-to-head," Dolphins running back Reggie Bush said. "Obviously, [it's] two guys who are going to have long careers in this league, two special players. And hopefully Tannehill wins."